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Hardy, Wieters return to Orioles lineup

4/23/14: Matt Wieters drives a solo home run to left off J.A. Happ to extend the Orioles' lead

By Brittany Ghiroli
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MLB.com |

TORONTO -- Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy and catcher Matt Wieters returned to the lineup on Wednesday night after the pair was sidelined with minor injuries sustained over the weekend in Boston.

In the Orioles' 10-8 win over the Blue Jays, both players contributed to a big night from the offense. Wieters launched a solo home run, his fourth of the season, in the seventh. Hardy drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Wieters, who was dealing with some right forearm tightness, said he was good to go and didn't need to test out his arm with any throws pregame. The O's catcher, who last played Sunday night, got treatment on the area and said Tuesday he was confident it would be a one-day thing following Monday's scheduled off-day.

Hardy sustained a right hamstring strain running the bases in Sunday's game -- exiting after six innings -- and said Wednesday he was much improved over the past 48 hours.

"I don't have that soreness," Hardy said. "There's definitely tightness, but that's just normal and it's not going to be 100 percent when I get back in there. There's only one way to test out game-speed stuff."

The Orioles shortstop took ground balls and ran before Tuesday's game and said he came in on Wednesday feeling good enough to be back in the lineup. That's good news for Baltimore, which is also missing third baseman Manny Machado and has been without Hardy for eight full games, six due to back spasms.

"Hopefully, I won't have to try to score on a double in the gap or something from first. Try and be under control at least a little bit the first day," Hardy said. "I think I'll be able to be smart with it. Hopefully not re-injure it and just keep getting better from here on out."